Recent News

• Advancing global health: UC Davis test identifies active, infectious form of TB
  UC Davis Health – March 23, 2026
  Researchers in the UC Davis Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine have created a new tuberculosis blood test that can detect the active, infectious form of the disease. The discovery enables faster diagnosis and treatment. It also helps prevent the spread of tuberculosis (TB) by quickly identifying those who are contagious. Current TB screening tests do not differentiate between active TB disease and a latent (inactive) infection. Positive TB tests must be followed up with additional tests. However, these additional tests can also have limitations.

• Lilly’s three-pronged obesity drug hits goal in large diabetes tria
  Biopharma Dive – March 19, 2026
  Retatrutide, a possible advance on GLP-1 drugs like Zepbound, significantly cut blood sugar and body weight in the study, a sign it might be similarly impactful against obesity. The two Phase 3 readouts Lilly has disclosed so far signal that retatrutide might be even more powerful than tirzepatide, the medicine the company sells as Zepbound for obesity and Mounjaro for diabetes and that’s now the world’s biggest selling pharmaceutical. The knee pain trial put the obesity drug field “on notice,” Evercore ISI analyst Umer Raffat wrote in December. In that study, treatment was associated with as much as 24% over 68 weeks. But because the trial wasn’t designed to maximize weight loss, analysts expect retatrutide to perform in even better in the ongoing obesity studies. Results from three are anticipated around mid-year.
• FDA OKs First Drug for Liver Disease-Related Pruritus
• Medpage Today – March 19, 2026
  The FDA approved linerixibat (Lynavoy) as the first drug indicated for cholestatic pruritus stemming from primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), drugmaker GSK announced. PBC is a rare but serious autoimmune disease where bile flow from the liver is disrupted. The vast majority (89%) of PBC patients experience an internal itch — thought to result from bile acids in circulation — that affects sleep, quality of life, and is sometimes so debilitating it can necessitate transplant even in the absence of liver failure. An ileal bile acid transporter (IBAT) inhibitor, linerixibat was developed to block bile acid re-uptake and reduce multiple mediators of chronic itch.
• Roche inks Nvidia deal to bolster AI factory, speed up drug and diagnostic development
  Fierce Biotech- March 16, 2026
  Swiss pharma Roche is staying in lockstep with Eli Lilly, expanding its artificial intelligence offerings and Nvidia partnership shortly after the latter drugmaker unveiled an Nvidia supercomputer. Roche’s “hybrid-cloud AI factory” is designed to accelerate development for new therapeutics and diagnostics, according to a March 16 release shared after market close. The new pact furnishes Roche with 2,176 Nvidia Blackwell graphics processing units (GPUs), bringing Roche’s total to 3,500 GPUs and making the pharma the largest known hybrid-cloud AI factory in the industry, according to the release.
• Universal, ready-to-use immunotherapy detects and destroys endometrial cancer
  UCLA – March 16, 2026
  Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecologic cancer in the United States and is one of the few cancers in which survival rates have steadily declined over the last few decades. The most aggressive subtypes are a significant driver of that trend: uterine papillary serous carcinoma accounts for just 10% of diagnoses but nearly 40% of deaths. Now, UCLA researchers have developed a novel immunotherapy that could begin to change the calculus for a disease that has resisted treatment progress. In a study published in Experimental Hematology & Oncology, the team describes how CAR-NKT cell therapy is more effective than current immunotherapies at fighting endometrial cancer.
• GSK’s RSV vaccine wins broader FDA clearance
  BioPharma Dive – March 13, 2026
  GSK’s respiratory syncytial virus shot gained an expanded approval from the Food and Drug Administration, a decision that represents a victory in what’s been a difficult regulatory climate for vaccine makers of late. The vaccine, Arexvy, was first approved for use in adults aged 60 and older, and then those 50 to 59 years of age and at higher risk of severe RSV-related disease. The new approval expands its potential use significantly, opening it up to what GSK estimates to be 21 million Americans who are under 50 and have at least one risk factor for severe disease. It also heightens Arexvy’s competition with Pfizer’s Abrysvo and Moderna’s mResvia, ‌which are approved for the same population.
• Scientists pinpoint protein shapes that track Alzheimer’s progression | Scripps Research
  Scripps Research – March 09, 2026
  Alzheimer’s disease affects an estimated 7.2 million Americans age 65 and older, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. Current tests often measure the levels of two proteins—amyloid beta (Aβ) and phosphorylated tau (p-tau)—in the blood or spinal fluid, but these markers may not fully capture earlier biological changes linked to disease progression. Scientists at Scripps Research have developed a blood-based approach that examines how proteins are folded in the bloodstream rather than simply measuring their concentrations. Their study, published in Nature Aging on February 27, 2026, reports that structural differences in three plasma proteins are associated with disease status and can distinguish cognitively normal individuals from those with Alzheimer’s and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) with high accuracy. The new test could help move diagnosis and intervention to an earlier stage.
• FDA Extends Approval of PKU Drug to Include Adolescents
  MedScape – March 6, 2026
  The new pediatric approval is based on data from PEGASUS, a phase 3 multicenter open-label randomized controlled study evaluating the safety and efficacy of pegvaliase-pqpz compared to diet alone in adolescents aged 12-17 years with PKU who had phenylalanine levels > 600 µmol/L with current management. At week 72, reductions in blood phenylalanine were just 19 µmol/L for the 17 patients randomized to diet alone vs 473 µmol/L for the 32 who received the drug, a significant difference. By the end of part 1 of the study, 44% of patients reached levels below guideline recommendations and of those, three quarters achieved levels < 120 µmol/L. Nine who received pegvaliase-pqpz were able to triple their protein intake from baseline, and to decrease their use of medical food protein by 55%. Six ultimately were able to completely discontinue medical food.
• FDA Approves New Drug Combo for RR Multiple Myeloma
  MedScape – March 6, 2026
  The FDA has approved teclistamab (Tecvayli, Janssen Biotech, Inc.) in combination with daratumumab and hyaluronidase-fihj (Darzalex Faspro, Janssen Biotech, Inc.) for the treatment of certain adult patients with relapsed or refractory (RR) multiple myeloma (MM). Specifically, the combination is approved for patients with MM who have received at least one prior line of therapy including a proteasome inhibitor and an immunomodulatory agent, according to the FDA approval notice. The FDA also converted the accelerated approval of teclistamab to traditional approval. Accelerated approval for the bispecific B-cell maturation antigen-directed CD3 T-cell engager as monotherapy for adults with RRMM and at least four prior lines of therapy was granted in 2022.